The U.S. Coast Guard inherited the "badged" version of the ensign when the Coast Guard came into being in 1915, and in 1927 the cutter badge was updated to use the Coast Guard's own emblem. The Coast Guard badge was slightly modified in 1966. The Coast Guard continues to use the "badged" or "defaced" version of the ensign, although it is now flown by Coast Guard cutters and facilities in conjunction with the U.S. national ensign, and not as a stand-alone ensign. Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Lynch and Benjamin Harrison, all members of the Continental Congress were appointed to a committee to help George Washington The flag has had several names, at least five of which have been popularly remembered. The more recent moniker, "Grand Union Flag", was first applied in the 19th-century Reconstruction era by George Henry Preble, in his 1872 History of the American Flag. [8]

Maine also has a separate ensign, which is rarely seen. It features symbols from the current flag and the older one, with a white field and green pine tree. The green pine tree has the seaman's anchor, and the words "MAINE" and "DIRIGO" around it. Dirigo ( Latin "I direct" or "I lead") is the state motto of Maine. Federal Yachts Ensign Act of 1848 ~ P.L. 30-141" (PDF). 9 Stat. 274 ~ House Bill 178. Legis★Works. August 7, 1848. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 11, 2015 . Retrieved July 5, 2017. widespread use, but it was never officially chosen by Congress. Questions about the appearance of the Grand Union Flag

Who created the Grand Union Flag?

Union Flag (1606–1801), in which are combined the white-on-blue Cross of St. Andrew (for Scotland) and the red-on-white Cross of St. George (for England). (more) Historians are uncertain who made the first Grand Union Flag or who chose it to represent the united colonies. There are however, a few possibilities:• Margaret Manny, a Philadelphia seamstress has submission." Notice that this letter calls the flag the "Grand Union" and says it had 13 stripes, but does not say what color the stripes were. It is not known for certain when or by whom the design of the Continental Colours was created, but the flag could easily be produced by sewing white stripes onto the British Red Ensigns. [8] The "Alfred" flag has been credited to Margaret Manny. [12] River. The Alfred's First Lieutenant, John Paul Jones, raised the Grand Union Flag aboard the Alfred, as well as the Gadsden Flag, which was the standard of the Navy's first Commodore, Esek Hopkins.

Orchard, Chris (30 December 2013). "Research upholds traditional Prospect Hill flag story". Patch . Retrieved 3 July 2020. The current "Stars and Stripes" design was first adopted when the Second Continental Congress passed the Flag Resolution of June 14, 1777: " Resolved, That the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation." [3] Subsequent flag acts have revised the design as new states joined the union. [4] The 13-star "boat flag", 1912 Prior to being flown by the Colonial fleet, this flag was first raised by General George Washington on January 1, 1776, at Prospect Hill in Cambridge, Massachusetts Bay. By the end of 1775, during the first year of the American Revolutionary War, the Second Continental Congress operated as a de facto war government, who had authorized the creation of the Continental Army, the Continental Navy, and even a small contingent of Continental Marines. A new flag was needed to represent both the Congress and the United Colonies, with a banner distinct from the British Red Ensign flown from civilian and merchant vessels, the White Ensign of the British Royal Navy, and the Flag of Great Britain carried on land by the British army. The emerging states had been using their own independent flags, with Massachusetts using the Taunton Flag, and New York using the George Rex Flag, prior to the adoption of united colors. [ citation needed] [3] Americans first hoisted the Grand Union Flag on the colonial warship Alfred, in the harbor on the western shore of the Delaware River at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on 3 December 1775, under the command of the new appointed Lieutenant John Paul Jones of the formative Continental Navy. The event was documented in letters to Congress and eyewitness accounts. [4] The flag was also used by the Continental Army forces as both a naval ensign, and as a garrison flag throughout 1776 and early 1777. [ citation needed]Hamilton, Schuyler (1853). History of the National Flag of the United States of America. Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo & Co. Power Squadrons ensign [ edit ] The United States Power Squadrons ensign, as a signal, indicates membership of the organization. This flag was flown as the unofficial American flag until June 14, 1777, when the Continental Congress authorized the Stars and Stripes.

George Washington, or one of his staff created the design. Although the flag was used in Philadelphia on the Alfred The design of the Colours is strikingly similar to the flag of the British East India Company (EIC). Indeed, certain EIC designs in use since 1707 (when the canton was changed from the flag of England to that of the flag of Great Britain) were nearly identical. However, the number of stripes varied from 9 to 15. One theory on the origin of the design is that the American colonists would have known and been familiar with the existing EIC flags and that this may have influenced the design. [13]In For Want of a Nail by Robert Sobel, it serves as the flag of the Confederation of North America, a self-governing dominion created in 1843 via the second of two Britannic designs after John Burgoyne's victory at the Battle of Saratoga in October 1777, resulting in the Conciliationists gaining control of the Continental Congress in 1778. On December 3rd of that year, it was raised aboard Captain Esek Hopkin's flagship Alfredby John Paul Jones, who at that time was a young lieutenant in the Navy. Short History of the United States Flag". American Battlefield Trust. 2019-11-06 . Retrieved 2023-11-01. The Grand Union Flag was the de facto first U.S. naval ensign. It was first raised aboard Continental Navy Commodore Esek Hopkins' flagship Alfred on the Delaware River on December 3, 1775; John Paul Jones, then the ship's senior lieutenant, personally claimed this honor. [2]

In April 1776, the Massachusetts Navy adopted, as its flag, a white field charged with a green pine tree and the motto "An Appeal to Heaven." In 1971 the motto was removed, and the flag was designated "the naval and maritime flag of the Commonwealth". [21] Merchant and Marine Flag of MaineAnsoff, Peter (2006). "The Flag on Prospect Hill". Raven: A Journal of Vexillology. 13: 77–100. doi: 10.5840/raven2006134. ISSN 1071-0043. LCCN 94642220. Rankin, Hugh F. “The Naval Flag of the American Revolution.” The William and Mary Quarterly, vol. 11, no. 3, 1954, pp. 340–53. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/1943310. Accessed 20 Feb. 2023. a year, citizens in Boston commemorate Washington's raising the Grand Union Flag on Prospect Hill. Watch a short video of the 232nd raising of the flag at Prospect Hill here. As the first commonly flown flag by the Continental Army and Navy, the Grand Union Flag was the flag of the united colonies on July 4, 1776 when they declared their